201. The Problem With Being Really Good at What You Do
Episode Summary
How could being really good at something possibly be a problem?
Being really good at what you do sounds like an advantage, and it is. Until the skill that made you successful has now become the thing that's holding your business back.
In this episode, you'll discover:
See what happens when the thing you’re so good at starts to become a problem
Get three examples of ways I've seen this show up in businesses, including the real client stories that made the hidden cost and potential opportunities impossible to ignore.
Hear about the woman whose exceptional work had people stopping her in the street, yet one piece of her business was taking twenty hours at a time.
Listen now to discover why being great at what you do isn't always the same thing as doing what matters most, and how to begin exploring what’s next for you.
Who This Episode Is For
High-achieving women entrepreneurs who have become exceptionally good at something that may no longer be the highest-value use of their time.
Founders who are still doing work themselves because they know they can do it better, faster, or to a higher standard than anyone else.
Women who find themselves being needed, staying in the weeds, or producing exceptional work while the business itself needs them to operate at a different level.
Entrepreneurs who are struggling to delegate because handing something over means tolerating work that isn't done exactly the way they would do it.
High performers who suspect that their competence may be keeping them from developing the capabilities their next level requires.
Women who are ready to shift from being the person who does the best work to being the person who creates the most value.
Key Takeaways
See what happens when the thing you’re so good at starts to become a problem
Get three examples of ways I've seen this show up in businesses, including the real client stories that made the hidden cost and potential opportunities impossible to ignore.
Hear about the woman whose exceptional work had people stopping her in the street, yet one piece of her business was taking twenty hours at a time.
Full Episode Transcript:
In this episode, you'll discover the problem with being really good at what you do.
Welcome to The Uncommon Way, where high-achieving women entrepreneurs and leaders pitch the rulebook and design success on their own terms. I'm your host, Jenna Harrison, a top-ranked business coach sharing business growth strategies, mindset mastery, and power moves to help you attract ideal clients, leverage your unique genius, and scale with freedom. Let's dive in.
Welcome. Welcome back to The Uncommon Way. Today, I want to talk to you about something that sounds like a good problem to have. You're really good at what you do. People love your work. You've got a knack for it. And you're the person other people come to when something actually needs to get done right. All good things. And sometimes the exact thing that made you successful is the thing keeping you from growing. In this episode, you will see what happens when the thing you're so good at starts to become a problem. You'll get three examples of ways I've seen this show up in businesses, including the real client stories that makes the hidden cost and potential opportunities impossible to ignore. And you'll hear about the woman whose exceptional work had people stopping her in the street, yet one piece of her business was taking 20 hours at a time.
But let me start somewhere outside of business with Matthew McConaughey. Matthew McConaughey was the rom-com guy for years. Maybe you remember this. And why not? He's charming and handsome and funny. And that lane was working really well for him. He was making serious money doing something he was genuinely good at. And in an interview with Tim Ferriss, I heard him talking about turning down a $15 million contract because he decided he was done playing those roles. Now sit with that for a second. $15 million to do the thing you're already excellent at? The thing people know you for? The thing that built your whole career? And he said no, because he wanted to find out if he could do something next level. We know how that turned out. What's cool is that even though it felt like a complete departure, he didn't have to completely start from scratch. Every year in those earlier roles taught him something about being on camera and timing and carrying a film. So the thing he was so confident at, it wasn't wasted. It was preparing him for what came next. That is the idea that I want to knock around today. Because the work you're really good at, the work you've built your identity around, may not be the work your business needs from you anymore. And if you keep doing it because you're so good at it, you can pigeonhole yourself into mediocrity. I'm just being real.
Here's what makes this so hard to catch though. You have evidence this works really well for you. And on the other side, nothing yet. No proof the new thing will work. No evidence it'll pay off to change things versus doing the old things. Most of the women I work with would take the harder path in a heartbeat if they could trust that move would actually pay off. So I am going to walk you through three ways this shows up so you can more clearly see some costs and potential payoffs. I'll go first because this was mine. I was taking care of my clients really well. If you've been through this yourself, you know exactly where I'm going with this. If not, you're probably like, huh, how could that possibly be something you'd want to evolve out of? But I was so great at helping them through anything and finding a way through any business problem that I started taking it all on myself and making their business my responsibility. Not just coaching them through problems, if only actually absorbing the weight of their business results as if the outcomes were mine to own and providing services that I hadn't actually been hired for and swooping in to do things for clients if I perceived that I could do the task better or more easily. And that became really heavy and exhausting and frustrating because there were many things I just couldn't do for them. I can't be the person embodying confidence and authority during a sales conversation, for instance. And what did my clients get out of this? They learned to be taken care of really well, but not necessarily to build the muscles for independence and future success. For me, this pattern meant that I would stay helping a handful of people rather than scaling. It was like I was building 10 other businesses and didn't have time for my own. This was confidence, but it was pointed at the wrong target. And this one undermines a lot of women in business, especially early on. I have a whole episode on it, one of our most popular, it's episode 91, so we'll link to that. Because that is the model we're taught about what helpful looks like. The grandmother or mother anticipating your needs before you even ask. Up early baking so that everyone else benefits from the delicious breakfast. And also dabbing her eye with a hanky as she wonders why people take her for granted. Early on, you can get a lot of positive feedback from this in your business. People tell you what a lifesaver you are. They come back and buy more.
They tell their friends. So of course you start thinking, oh, this must be what it takes to be successful in business. That's more evidence. But here's the question that matters. Is being extra helpful the highest value thing I could be doing with this hour? Maybe the thing you're great at is helping people. And the thing your business actually needs is for you to make offers or create content that leads somewhere. Or create new systems that will free up hours of time for you and your VA in the future. That work might not feel as good at first. The payoff might not be as direct. But you can't develop a capability you keep avoiding. So that was number one. Being needed. The second one shows up further along. Staying in the weeds. You had to learn every part of this business while you were building it. You know about that weird quirk in your email system or how to get the vendor to release a bit of product to you when there's a shortage.
You're better at some of these tasks than anyone on your team. And you know it. So when someone else does it and it's not how you'd do it, you step back in and fix it. You decide to just do it yourself next time. You tell yourself it's faster this way. Sometimes it is faster. That still doesn't make it the best use of your time and energy though. My client Lindy owned a couple of grocery stores and she wanted to expand the chain across small towns in America but it felt impossible because she was always putting out brush fires. So she came to me for help with
operations and cash flow. Now one of the things she described was cleaning up broken jars in the aisles. On its face that looks great. She's not above any task. She's in it with her team. But when we looked at it honestly, something else was going on. She knew how to run a store. She knew how to put out a fire. That was demonstrated competency and it felt good every single time. What didn't feel comfy at all was what the business required for her next level. Being strategic. Translating vision into results. And deep down, she believed she'd fail at that.
So she stayed in the aisles. The business wasn't stuck because of operations or cash flow. It was stuck because she kept retreating to her competency. When she finally stopped, two things surprised her. The first was how much bandwidth all that firefighting had been eating up without her even realizing it. Once she had a minute to think, she found out she was an idea factory. And the second surprised her more. Her employees felt better when she stopped. Because they'd been reading it differently than she meant it. To them, her cleaning up the aisles said she didn't think they could handle things that were literally in their job descriptions. So what looked like aisle-go-first leadership was blocking the leadership her business actually needed. And then there's the one I see a lot in high performers. Being excellent. You produce exceptional work. You catch those details other people miss. And you've got an eye for exactly what's needed. I worked with a woman who was well-known enough in her country that people stopped her on the street to tell her how much her work had changed things for them. And she confessed to me that it took her 20 hours to make one real. 20 hours herself. I understood it completely. She cared about the quality.
She knew exactly what she wanted, and her standards were part of why she'd gotten that far. But the standards had a second cost that she hadn't connected yet. She couldn't keep employees. When someone didn't do it the way she would have, she'd get miffed and take it back over. Which meant her team never got to fill the capability she kept wishing they had. Or to learn what actually did make it good versus not so good, according to her. And she never got to move into the kind of business and life she wanted. She was capped by her hours and her personal bandwidth. Because at some point, getting something from a nine to a ten costs three hours more. Or a full day. And moves the outcome by maybe 20 percent. Meanwhile, the work that actually changed her life changed her life. Meanwhile, the work that actually changes your trajectory is sitting there untouched. The, I don't know, the sales conversation. Or the partnership opportunity. Or the speaking opportunity. Or the decision that only you can make. But now I'm going to show you the other side of this. Because my client Kath went through this and came out on the other end. She had built her business on delivering the highest quality product possible. She was extraordinary at it.
And then the agency grew. And the business needed her on sales and stages instead. Stepping back was hard. What if the quality dwindled? What if clients dropped her? What if she had to lay everyone off and end up broke under a bridge? Right? It could happen. She stepped back anyway. And her clients actually preferred the new experience. What? Yes. And so did her team. Plus, the business kept on growing. Not because she took on twice as much. Or three times as much. Or four times as much. Just because she stopped pointing her capability at the old thing. So she stopped being the person who produced the best work.
And became the person who created the most value. Those are not the same job. And that's what happens when you work on the inner stuff that's controlling how you operate day in, day out. Here is the uncomfortable part underneath all three of these. Being the person who does it best can be a way of avoiding the work where you aren't the expert yet. The new work is asking you to become someone who hasn't earned the proof yet. Like when Matthew McConaughey was prepping for his first serious role. So here's what I'd like you to actually do with this. Ask yourself what you are genuinely good at right now. Then ask the harder thing. Is this still what my business needs most from me? Maybe it is. I'm not telling you to hand off everything you've ever been good at or everything you might be below you. Some things do make sense for you to do. And to be clear, I still uncover new areas where I let my competence get in the way of what the business needs.
So this isn't me on the other side of it telling you how to get here. It's so much easier to spot when you're on the outside looking at someone else than when you're in your own day to day. But here is a chance right now to be honest about which category your competencies are in. Are you doing it because it's the highest value thing you can contribute? Or because you know you can do it well and people recognize you for it? And stepping away means trusting someone else and maybe even horror of all horrors mean bad at something new for a while. Because here's what I keep coming back to. What if the thing you're really good at isn't the destination? What if it's just preparation for your best work? You don't have to throw out what you've learned. You don't have to become someone else unless you want to. You just need to get real about what's next. Your business doesn't necessarily need more of what you're already good at. It might need you to be great at something new. That's probably the most important work in front of you right now, figuring out what really deserves your time, focus, and energy. Alright my friend, that's what I've got today. Go look at the work you're doing and any work you're avoiding and think about what becomes possible when you stop measuring your value by how well you perform what you've always been good at. I'll talk to you soon.
Episode Mentioned:
Episode 91: Q: My clients are exhausting me! How do I break the pattern of difficult clients?
Core Concepts in This Episode
Power Consolidation in Scaling
Redirecting the founder's limited time, attention, and capability away from work she is merely excellent at and toward the work that has the greatest potential to change the trajectory of the business.
Leadership Capacity in Business
Developing the capacity to step out of personally performing, fixing, and controlling work so the founder can lead at the level the growing business actually requires.
Founder Identity & Business Growth
Recognizing how being known for a particular strength can become part of a founder's identity, and how continuing to prove that strength can keep her from becoming who the next stage of the business requires.
Strategic Leverage
Distinguishing between work that produces an excellent immediate result and work that creates greater future capacity, revenue, opportunity, or growth.
Delegation & Team Empowerment
Understanding how a founder's tendency to step back in and do things herself can prevent her team from developing the very capabilities she wishes they had.
CEO Evolution
Moving from the role that made the business successful to the role the business needs next, even when that means temporarily being less competent, less certain, or less externally validated in the new work.
Work with Jenna
Decisions on Demand — A practical mini-course designed to help you make cleaner, higher-quality choices — the kind that unlock momentum, authority, and follow-through. The framework mirrors decision-making principles used in high-stakes environments, adapted for real life and business.
The Clarity Accelerator Mastermind — If you want to be surrounded by other visionary entrepreneurs while rapidly aligning your business to the conditions and strategies that let you thrive and excel naturally, this intimate mastermind will stretch you into your next level. Schedule your call today here or visit this page to find out more.
Private Coaching — If you’re craving the highest level of support, strategy, and partnership to create all the freedom, impact, and success you’re designed for, this is the space for it. Schedule your call today here.
Find Jenna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theuncommonway/
The Uncommon Way is a leadership and business podcast for ambitious women entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders who are scaling companies and expanding their influence.
Hosted by business and leadership coach Jenna Harrison, the show explores how power, authority, and leadership capacity shape business growth. Episodes focus on decision-making, founder leadership evolution, team stability, and the structural shifts that allow companies to scale without overwhelming the person leading them.
This podcast is especially relevant for women navigating:
• Business growth and scaling challenges
• Increasing leadership responsibility
• Team expansion and higher-stakes decisions
• Founder authority and executive presence
• Identity and leadership evolution during scaling
The Uncommon Way approaches growth differently.
Not through hustle, constant self-optimization, or endless inner work — but by upgrading leadership, strengthening decision structures, and expanding the capacity required to run the company you’re building.
Topics include:
• Founder leadership capacity expansion
• Decision-making at higher levels of responsibility
• Authority and power dynamics inside scaling businesses
• Structural business leadership
• Founder psychology and identity shifts during growth
• Sustainable scaling and operational clarity
Whether you’re an experienced founder, a rising leader, or building something that’s starting to matter at a bigger level, this podcast helps you access more power and lead accordingly.
